So after my car came off warranty, I decided to play with a bit and install the following:

VAP
200 Cell Cats
Dual Plate Clutch
One Piece Lightweight Flywheel
Headers
ECU Tune

Redpants
Hi-Flow Air Filters (DRY)

I would like to thank the guys at Velocity (specifically Stuart and the boards own irish07 aka Chris Edgett) for the tireless advice during the this process. There was an issue with the torque tube which, although addressed with respect to the old and new torque tubes, was not addressed with respect to the AMR torque tube that Aston using in their exchange program for the post 2014 cars.

So when using the AMR torque tube, the spacer is simply not used. The solution is to install the release bearing directly on the AMR torque tube.

First, the sound.
I thought the sport muffler sounded great but OMG what a sound with the 200 cell cats installed. I retained my sport button functionality so I can creep the car home without excessive noise. However, once this car hits 4000 rpm (3000 rpm with sport button engaged), it simply growls. I have a permanent grin on my face.

With respect to the ECU Tune, Velocity gave me a program whereby when the button is disengaged the exhaust valves stay closed all the time. When the sport button is engaged, then the valves will stay open all the time (akin to pulling "that" fuse). They also removed the throttle lag so that heal-toe/throttle blipping can be performed much easier under load.

The Clutch/Lightweight Flywheel
I have a 2015 Vantage and the clutch was pulled at approximately 19900 miles. Clutch came out in great shape; plenty of life left. By the way, the dang thing weighs a ton!!!!

As stated by others, with the lightweight flywheel, the engine spins up very quickly. However, with the ability to spin up, the rpms also fall quickly (I believe this phenomenon is due to lack of inertia because the wheel is lightened). It's a little cloudy today and I didn't want to get caught in the rain so I haven't really fully gotten the hang of it yet, but I haven't stalled the car so far.

The clutch feel is feather light, and the engagement point is now pretty low. All-in-all, a vast improvement over the stock unit.

In my view, this upgrade is an essential for those who intend to keep their cars for a long time.

TAC

 

Second drive....

A black Jaguar F-Type slots onto the parkway.... Unbelievably, he uses the ENTIRE ramp to merge into traffic. I slide by on the high side (just minding my own business). Next thing I look up, he's in my rear view mirror. So ok, ya wanna play.... Pull test..... I accelerate and he's keeping up, then I dig into the power band a little more and he's keeping up... we then clip into triple digits and now we're really pulling.... Arp.... the Dark Lord starts to open up distance on him. I get cut of by an inattentive driver, but pass him on the inside but this allows the Jag to catch up. I'm now in the left lane and I slow down (keeping the inattentive driver behind me) to allow the F-TYP to get in front of me (two lane highway). Naturally, he didn't get it so I had to motion him to move up and slide over. Needless to say when it was his turn to be on point he didn't take it. Well, I've got enough road time to understand that you don't cruise or hang with drivers like that. Their goal is to sit behind you and wait for you to trip all the speed traps. No thank you... Bye!! Ping!! Passed him, left him and he faded to black (no pun intended).

On the in-bound trip, I make an inside pass on this vette who decides he was too cool move over to the right. The minivans pass him on the right, and others passes him on the right. I sit behind him for a few so as to give him the opportunity to move over. When I see it wasn't going to do so, I pass him on the right too.

I look in my rear view mirror and he now decides to shift into the right lane behind me, but inches off my bumper! Basically, it seems he want to measure sizes and apparently I'm worthy. He's running a targa so I see him take his hat off ready to get it on. Traffic opens up and I run up through the gears hard, very hard. He's coming too. However, This little old vantage is just pulling away from him..... stretch....s...t...r...e...t...c...h... s......t......r......e......t......c......h...… What is this, the legendary straight line beast can't hang? Oooooooo, I'm really loving this. So I ease up (traffic conditions), and he pulls up next to me and give me a thumbs up.... I give him my trademark Cheshire Cat grin.... Anyhoo, he revs his engine (you know that muscle car rev thing they all do) in an attempt to goad me one. I was done though.... So I just dropped into the right lane in what is now a three lane highway.

Enter the Ducati....
I'm generally just cruising with traffic but it is my habit, from experience, to always look in my rear view mirror as I drive. I look up and I see this Ducati weaving through traffic and splitting cars (i.e., passing on the white, dashed line). He comes to me and I pinch over to my right to give him as much room as he needs to make his pass. I don't know what he did to the bike but as he went by the bike did something akin to a nod (which, I guess was his way of acknowledging that I cleared a path for him). I think about it... think about... think about it and then Awwwwww, what the heck.... Punch it and catch up to him.... (the details will remain untype but for those who know catching a sport bike in bumper to bumper traffic requires nerves of steel and some quick reflexes to catch the holes as they come and go quickly.

We work our way into the right hand lane because, naturally, in America, people drive left and pass right. The entire right hand lane is open. So he drops a gear and I drop a gear.... for a moment the Ducati had me on gears. However, I managed to close the distance between us and was pulling with him. Not sure how fast we were going but I know I "cammed/wound" out at least fourth gear (it could have been fifth because the gear stick was to the right and forward). Needless to say, we hit traffic again (caught up to cars in the right lane and now it was time to vacate said lane). Now the Dark Lord made his move, because the Ducati rider hesitated for a split second. Blipped over to the far left with the momentum that I had, and brought it back to the right hand lane and took the exit ramp. Ducati screams up behind me.... At this point, however, we are headed to city driving and I obey the speed limits on the local roads to a fault. I see him raise his visor so that he can get a better look.

We pull up to a light and he says "that one's little bit faster than the normal Astons". I nod my head in acknowledgment and explain to him that the car's has been tuned. How many horses are you pulling them. I'm not sure and I have no intention of put the car on a dyno. However, using Stuart's estimates I flipped out just under 500 hp. Last thing I say is, "nice bike". He thanks me.... He goes left, I go straight.... Oh yea, I forgot to mention that the Vette was no where to be seen... I bet his "n*Ts" must have been in his throat watching this Vantage V8S perform.

My closing thoughts.
The car has developed a sense of urgency that is more consistent with its appearance. If I ask for power, it delivers. I find myself downshifting less often now because there's always power on tap. The clutch is now magical, i.e., a non-issue. Also, I notice the shifts are not so notchy anymore.

Oh, I did stall it as I tired to jump across a busy intersection too quickly. Another thing, I'm still not reversing it though!!!

 

How many points do YOU have?

Now that my stalling seems to have subsided I've been thinking about adding some power and a bit of sound. Tune, cats, rear box. If I put the dual plate back in I'd probably put a new disc pack in that hopefully chatters less, I do miss how it spooled and how much quicker you had to time the shifts to mate as fast as it drops.

Watch out for the staties, my last suspension was for doing 106, 1 county south would have been 3 days in the clink to boot. Then again that was in a Focus rental. I blew by one doing 97 in the V8 and got a $54 delaying traffic ticket LOL

 

I have to admit, I don't speed on strange or unknown roads. And, for the most part, I'm typically doing less than the speed limit in an attempt to increase the time spent in the car. My excessive pace is typically when there's a bit more cars on the road. This way, other drivers will tip you off to the presence of statie.

I've always said 100 is where the fun starts!

 

I couldn't agree more, in fact the car feels very natural and at home cruising the pound. But, trouble also starts at 100

I'm 19 days shy of going 3 years without a points bearing ticket, even though I've been pulled over often and should have pulled at least 12 points and a suspension. If I was driving a Vette or Camaro I'd definitely be in points trouble which is how life has always been. Until I bought this car. They pull me over, they love to look at it, talk about it, take pictures of it, then tell me to keep it down! LOL

 

Yea, I've been pulled over twice in the same spot, same rural town, but in different directions. Both times, its a friendly conversation. I even thanked the Officer for his diligence in checking on my car.

Had a discussion with a couple of NY State troopers. Very insightful conversation. It appears, the camaro's, mustangs, chargers, etc are the problematic cars. Duly noted!

 

Must say I enjoyed reading your adventures, although officially they are careless and dangerous. Good to hear another person say how much the VAP systems woke the car up. I will say just the tune woke up my DB9 so much I was surprised. I have had AMG's and tunes did very little to nothing IMHO. i never noticed it a bit. But with the VAP tune, it was immediately noticed in the throttle response and power band. I decided to get Stuarts tune for my RRS 5.0S and again, this being a bit different, was very highly impressed. They are working with me on some torque changes down low due to a lag I noticed in 2,3 gears between 1500 and 2k rpm.

I am out of town and on my trip on I-95 I had a stream of idiots "impeding the flow of traffic" in the left lane and would slow down and speed up according to the gap between trucks so no one could get around them. They miscalculated the power of my RRS.

A F_Type R thought he would jump in behind me and keep up, he was sadly mistaken and wholly surprised. When traffic slowed a few miles ahead he said, what the hell did I have in my RRS, he couldn't keep up at all. I said a VAP tune which took it too 600+hp. Then he said that makes sense. Yes the RRS with the tune is a bit ridiculous.


Glad you enjoyed your fun, safely and without a pair of lights flashing behind you. No one likes that.

 

Most important thing....which Vantage?

 

2015 Vantage V8S

 

So I've been doing a bit more, and I'm realizing this thing is LOUD! lolololololol

ON the highway, I find myself deactivating the sport button so that the valves remain closed below 4000 rpms. With the valves closed, the volume levels are just fine. However, enter sport mode and the whole dynamic changes!

 

how much did all that cost? I'd probably be wanting to do something similar in the next 12 months

 

In all honesty, your costs may differ because I did mine while the car was in for its four year service. So between supplying my own air filters and installing the headers and 200 cell cats while I did my clutch, I was able to save considerably on the cost.

The unexpected was a core charge for my torque tube, which was roughly $700.

Everything is available from VelocityAP.

The only difference is that I got the hi-flow filters from Rich at Redpants.

 

That's awesome bud, glad your loving it!!

 

Very much so!!! Cheers!!!